Nigrum flos mortis
by Roxywild1229
Summary: A small child can direct the winds of change, make flowers of death to grow, and let the unlovable love. For now, the child must learn of love and his connection to a power left to the ruins of history. Little Harry has a long way to go, the first step is discovering his true name. m/m in future (not with Lucius) bashing!Dumbledore Triggers: Blood, suicide, abuse, eating disorder
1. Chapter 1

27th January 2019

Nigrum flos Mortis chpt1

Chapter 1

Freak knew that he wasn't wanted, he knew that things like him were bad. Freak was finally happy, he thought he was going to die.

Freak had dropped one of Aunt Petunias' special plates, he was taking them out for the special dinner Aunt Petunia had made him cook. Dudley ran into him and before Freak could do anything the plate dropped from his hands. Uncle Vernon had gone very red and purple, and very loud. 

After that Freak's memory was very blurry, he knows he felt a lot of pain everywhere, but after Uncle hit his head he couldn't feel anything. Then Uncle chucked him in his cupboard.

Freak closed his eyes smiled, he hoped that he died.

John and Maisie Williams did not know that they were about to change the course of history for a whole civilization simply by showing up to dinner ten minutes early. Yet, that is what they did. 

After ringing the doorbell, a pleasant bell chime, a woman opened the door. Mr Williams assumed this was Vernon Dursley's wife, Petunia. Vernon had gone on at work to brag about how amazing her cooking was, and that John would not be able to enjoy anything else after trying her food. Mrs Dursley smiled, welcomed them in, and commented on how it was a pleasant surprise that they were early.

The house was very ordinary, filled with photos of two adults and a child on every available shelf and wall. There were a lot of photos of the rather portly child, Maisie remembered John mentioning that his name was Dudley and took after his father is almost all aspects. The smell of a roast cooking lingered heavily in the air, Petunia lead them into the living room where Vernon and Dudley were. Vernon and Petunia engaged John and Maisie, making small talk about how was John doing at work and what did Maisie do during the week. 

After being served slightly bitter tea, and almost stale scones, that Petunia claimed she had baked herself, John started to realise that her acclaimed skill was more of Vernon having a lot of love for his wife and eating anything he could get his hands on. Vernon was now bragging about his son's recent achievement at primary school, and how he wouldn't be surprised if Dudley was an amazing businessman in the future, just like his dad.

"Petunia would you be a dear and direct me to the lavatory?" Maisie softly asked Mrs Dursley. Their husbands had just segued on to talking about drills and the upcoming bid for a new project with a large construction company, a topic that Maisie did not find interesting at all.

"Yes, it's just down the hall, past the shoe cupboard under the stairs," Petunia replied, now fussing over her son and trying to get him to eat a fourth scone. Maisie stood up and began to walk down the hallway past the cupboard when she noticed something odd on the floor.

 **Blood**.

Smeared blood, as if someone had tried to wash it away quickly and hadn't quite finished got around to all of it. Leading straight to the shoe cupboard under the stairs. Getting closer and crouching down Maisie noticed a stench that the roast had previously covered, a very distinct metallic scent. More blood. Her hand stretched slowly towards the small lock and began to slide it op-

"Maisie dear, did you get lost on your way to the bath-" John walked into the hallway, and paused midsentence once her caught the startled look on his wife's face. Maisie head turned towards him and conveying her trepidation. She turned back to the cupboard, and slowly opened the door. Now John had seen a lot of injuries growing up playing rugby and he was no stranger to blood, but what he saw in the cupboard will be something he will remember till the day he dies.

There, on a small moth ridden cot, was a very young child. The little body was ridden with cuts and horrible bruising. Despite all the pain, the child must have been in, a small smile graced their lips.

Maisie screamed, John cried in outrage, and the Dursley ran into the hallway. As soon as the homeowners discovered the source of their guests' distress their faces became very pale. Petunia fainted, Dudley ran to his mother, and Vernon's face slowly became very red.

John was not a violent person, despite his chosen sport, he did not seek out fights as a kid, but at that moment his only goal was to hurt this monster. John swung with his right and, just like his wife, Vernon dropped to the ground. Maisie ran to the landline phone she had seen in the kitchen and rung 999. Trying not to cry, she explained to the person on the phone the situation and started to beg for the ambulance to just get here as quick as possible.

John did not know what to do, he looked down at the small child, not wanting to hurt them any more than possible slowly, and carried them out of the cupboard under the stairs. He placed them on the sofa, where not ten minutes ago he had been talking to the monster that caused this child's suffering.

After that the police and ambulance showed up, there was so much noise, John was taken off to a corner to be questioned, and Maisie was being aided by an EMT in a shock blanket. No matter how crowded the house was, John did not take his eyes off the small body until it disappeared in the back of an ambulance.

He looked to his wife and slowly began to cry.

Freak had a faint feeling that was now covered in light and heard the dampened sound of a scream. But that didn't matter to Freak, he was more focused on the flowery and earthy scents he could smell, the feeling of water dripping on his forehead and colours of red, bright green and dark brown swirling in his sight. A feeling of arms holding him tight, just like the flashes he has when he had a dream.

Freak smiled, he liked this feeling and hoped that this it was what it felt like when he died. He never wanted this feeling to stop.

Freak didn't know how much time had passed, but just before everything changed he heard a whisper,

"We love you, Harry, you are so special, but your time hasn't come yet." Then the scents disappeared, and Fre- no, _Harry_ \- began to open his eyes. As Harry began to feel pain course through his body, a deep voice washed over him,

"You are a strange being, calling me now. Rest child, you have yet to change the world."

The feeling of cold wind whirled around Harry, and then he succumbed to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

28th January 2018

Nigrum flos Mortis chpt2 

The first thing Freak- no, _Harry -_ thought when he opened his eyes was that none of the Dursley's owned an alarm clock, well not anymore. Dudley had thrown a fit when the loud beeping woke him up early, and Aunt Petunia had subsequently gotten rid of it. The second thing he thought was that wherever he was, it was not his cupboard. As much as he loved it, his cot was not this comfy or warm.

Maybe he had died, Harry's heart skipped a beat. But then, why is his heart still beating? Harry realised if he wanted to figure out where he was, he was going to have to open his eyes.

Now David had performed many operations in his career, but none had ever been as exhausting and as terrifying as this one. Never in his life had he seen such a tiny broken body, and despite his best hopes, David could not see this child making it through the night. 

Deciding to check on the young boy's stats before heading to an on-call room, David made his way to the guarded room his patient was in. Showing his pass to the police officer, David opened the door… to find two very awake and very scared eyes staring straight back at him.

David slowly closed the door behind whilst keep eye contact with the very much awake patient who should have still be under the effects of the anaesthetics.

"Hi, my name is Doctor Johnson. I am here to help you get better," David stated calmly to the child, placing his palms up making sure that he could see them.

Harry was now definitely sure that he was not in his cupboard, he was on a bed he had seen in one of Aunt Petunia's doctor show. He was in the place sick people go, was he sick? Who had brought him here? Where was Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon? How much trouble was he – 

A door opened right in front of him and a tall man came in, Harry watched as the man's eye widened when he looked at him. Harry did not know what to do, the only old people he had ever seen was Aunt and Uncle.

"Hi, my name is Doctor Johnson. I am here to help you get better," the man had closed the door and slowly brought his hands so that Harry could see them. Harry slowly began to back upon his bed, getting as far away from Dr Johnson as possible. The doctor went on to ask something, but Harry realised something more important, he had things attached to him and he did not like it. Still scrambling further away from the doctor Harry grabbed the long wires attached to his chest and pulled them off, then the tubes in his arms, a loud noise went off and the doctor yelled and came at him.

The boy had started to move back a bit on the bed, trying to make sure he did not harm himself David told him that he was just going to check his heart rate. This, however, did not matter as the boy had realised that he had multiple monitors and an IV attached to him was focused on them. Suddenly, the boy ripped off all his wires and tubes David launched himself towards the boy and yelled, 

"STOP! They aren't going to hurt you!" The IV was full of pain meds, and if the child did not have them he would be in immense agony. This did not matter to the boy as he kept pulling them out, and then dived under the bed. 

"I'll be good, please, I'll be good. Please don't tell Aunt Petunia, please."

David paused, this child was abused severely and he was going to need to be very cautious about he approached the situation.

"Your Aunt and Uncle won't punish you, I promise. They are gone now, I here to help you get better," David slowly lowered himself to lie flat on the floor, keeping his hands in the sight of the tiny child. 

"Please can you come out? I need to make sure you are okay," the child green eyes widened and tears began to form. Then he slowly retreated to the other side of the bed making it a barrier between him and David.

David mirrored the boy's actions, and slowly went to his knees trying to make himself less daunting. He checked over where the IV had been inserted, the skin seemed to have healed over almost completely, but bruise still wrapped around his skin and his face pallor.

"Can you tell me what your name is?" David placed his clipboard on the bed as if a table, always showing the scared child his actions, "Do you known how old are you?"

The boy looked at him and then put up five fingers, this small child who was most definitely the size of a three or four-year-old, was five-years-old! David noted this down on the chart and then realised that he hadn't answered the first question at all, and the second with his hands. 

"Do you know to say your name?" the boy looked at him as if he was guilty of something.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm a worthless freak, please don't hurt me." David's heart cracked even more at the knowledge of how horrible those monsters had treated this poor little boy. He had his work cut out for him.

David was later able to finally coax the boy to get back into the bed, but unable to convince him to let the IV be reinserted. Harry Potter, the social worker had discovered that he was the Dursley's nephew and then his name, was going to need to be shown that other human beings were not all monster and a ton of affection.

Harry would be visited by most of the nursing staff, all having taken a liking to the small boy, Doctor Johnson "call me David", and his social worker Joan. At first, Harry would always put something between himself and a visitor whether the bed or the bathroom door, then slowly began to stay in his bed and talk to them. Only Doctor Johnson had been able to physically touch the boy, with monitoring his vitals and one small light pat on the shoulder (which unfortunately caused him to flinch away). 

The nurses always brought him food that they knew his shrunken stomach could handle, putting flowers in a vase for him and giving him the fluffiest blankets they could find. Joan sounded very soft when she talked to Harry, she brought him books after learning that he had been learning to from books that Dudley had mostly destroyed. The most surprising thing to Harry was that no one ever punished him, or called him freak or boy. When Harry accidentally knocked over a cup of water there had been no belt, just Doctor Johnson asking if he was alright. And when Harry woke up screaming in the night, the nurses didn't beat him and lock him up in a cupboard, they fluffed his pillow for him and sat next to his bed until he fell asleep.

Harry learnt all about kinds of stuff from the books Joan gave him, he had learnt colours, numbers, animals and got started on adding and subtracting numbers. Joan said that he was very smart and proud of him. No one had ever told him that before, not even the colourful voices.


	3. Chapter 3 Someone reads a newspaper

7th February 2020

Nigrum flos Mortis chpt3

Someone reads a newspaper

David reread the front page of The Times, the Dursley had been found guilty of child abuse and negligence and would be both serving life sentences in separate correctional facilities. The son apparently would be staying with his maternal aunt, hopefully, she would instil some compassion into the spiteful child. Harry would never have to see that horrible family again, unfortunately, they were no known living relatives or family members that could take him and he was to send off to an orphanage.

Harry was finally being sent off, the nurses gave him a little teddy bear and a small biscuit, Joan smiled at him and David gave him a little pat on the head as the matron came to pick him up. The matron was very short and had a soft face, she had taken his hand and lead him to a small car outside the hospital, helped him put on his seatbelt and driven them to the orphanage.

St. Peter's Home for Orphaned Children, was a very small and old building and was filled to the brim with children. St. Peter's was the last orphanage in Surrey as foster homes were becoming the more preferred method for taking in orphans. Harry had never seen so many children, ever.

There were children of all ages, according to Sister Racheal, the lady who had transported him. Harry was among the youngest, the oldest children being eighteen years old. Sister Rachael led him to a small room on the first floor and handed him a bag in which she placed a set of trousers, two shirts, four pairs of pants and socks, boots, a hat, a pair of mittens, and a green woollen coat.

"These will be your clothes now, make sure to take care of them, once you grow out of them they'll be given to someone else and you'll get bigger clothes. I'm sorry that they are not brand new, but they should last you a long time." Sister Rachael stated as she guided him out of the room and up a flight of stairs. She then walked him down a long hallway lined with doors on one side. At the very end of the corridor, she showed Harry into a room.

"You'll be sharing this room with three other boys," she took the bag and placed it on the bottom bunk, "breakfast is at seven am, lunch at noon, and dinner at six pm. You will hear the bell, don't be late. I'll leave you here to settle in and put away your clothes. The rest of your room is most probably out in the yard and will be back before dinner." With that Sister, Rachael walked out of the room and Harry was left to his own devices.

Harry looked around the room, there were two bunks pushed against the right and left walls, two wardrobes set next to the door frame. He assumed he wardrobe closest to his bed would be where he was supposed to store his clothes. His own clothes, not the hand me downs of Dudley. Harry had never been so happy.

The boys harry shared his room with weren't mean to him, but they didn't interact with either much. At least they didn't want to play Harry Hunting as Dudley had around the house. Dinner was tomato soup with bread and an orange. Harry was able to finish most of the soup and bread but not the orange, so he took it with him to bed. After brushing his teeth and taking a shower, Harry curled up beneath the duvet on his bed and fell asleep.

Lucius Malfoy was not a kind soul, but that did not mean he was incapable of love. Lucius held two people very close to his heart, his son Draco and his wife Narcissa. Draco was now six years old and brought joy to Lucius' world, he could never imagine harming his son.

An owl fluttered through his office window a collection of newspapers tied to its leg, some of which were in fact muggle. Although Lucius despised muggles, he was not clouded enough by prejudice to underestimate the fact that there were a lot of them and that their actions could affect a large per cent of the world. Lucius picked up The Times and glimpsed through the first page, a name catching his eye, not believing it Lucius began to read the whole article. Two adults had been found guilty of five years of child abuse and negligence, whilst normally not publishing the name of a child this one had no known relatives so they had been permitted to write it. The child, _Harry Potter._

This could not possibly be the _Harry Potter,_ could it? Lucius reread the article, finding a telephone number and address in muggle London given for anyone that knew anything about the child. Harry Potter according to Dumbledore was being raised in a loving home, away from the wizarding world's expectations and raised humbly. An abusive set of muggle guardians that resembled a walrus and a horse was certainly not that, right? But if it was, this would be horrendous and not to mention something that could be used against thee Albus Dumbledore. Lucius then thought who else from the Wizarding world would read a muggle newspaper, who would try and take Harry Potter for their own. That was it, Lucius needed to confirm for himself that this, not the supposed Chosen-One, despite the potential for this to be the Harry Potter being so little.

Lucius summoned his more muggle-style coat and stepped through his floo, calling out the Leaky Cauldron.


	4. Chapter 4 Why Can't Little Boys Be Nice?

7th February 2020

Nigrum flos Mortis chpt4

Why can't little boys be nice to each other?

Lucius stepped out into muggle London and to the small alleyway next to the Leaky Cauldron, he looked down at the address and apparated to another alleyway near the office. Conjuring a set of documents that made it seem like he was Harry's appointed guardian in case all other options had been exhausted, which would be the case. He stepped through the door and walk to the receptionist.

"Good afternoon, I am Lucius Malfoy. I recently read an article regarding a boy that due to unfortunate circumstances has no know relatives that are capable of caring for him, his name is Harry Potter. I have legal documentation stating that I am a potential guardian signed by his late parents." Lucius presented the papers, the receptionist's eyes widened and went to the phone, asking if a Joan was currently busy. She then gestured for Lucius to wait a moment, he was disgusted the lack of decorum but hid it behind an impassive face not wanting to jeopardize his chances of meeting the child.

"Sir, if you could please could take a seat, the social worker will be with you in a moment." She then gestured to a set of very underwhelming chairs, near what Lucius assumed was a muggle playpen for young children. Lucius decided to just stand in the waiting area, wishing that the muggles would hurry up. Luckily a moment later a slightly dishevelled looking women walked out of a door to the right of the waiting room.

"Mr Malfoy, I assume?" She stuck out her hand, Lucius assumed to be shaken. Still wanting to make a good impression, Lucius graciously grasped the muggles hand and shook it. "I am Joan Davis, Harry's social worker. I am responsible for facilitating Harry's adoption, which if all the paperwork is correct, will be happening soon. Please come through to my office, we need to go over everything." Ms Davis turned around and walked back through the door, Lucius following behind.

"Now as you most probably know, Harry was found to be a victim of child abuse from his previous guardians. Which has resulted in him being removed from their custody. I need to verify this paperwork and then will explain the situation to you." Ms Davis sat down in the chair behind the desk, Lucius doing so in one of the two in front of it. The social worker began to examine each part of the documents Lucius had conjured. Wanting this to proceed as a quicker rate Lucius cast a compulsion on the women to believe that the papers were infallible and that he was the next guardian.

"Seems like the documents are all in favour. Lucky you found out in the papers, there is barely anything in Harry or his parents. Not even a will." The struck Lucius, despite being primarily located in the Wizarding World the Potters would have most probably ensured through Gringotts that their will was executed in both worlds. Thinking about it there had been no reading of the will in the wizarding world either, remembering Severus going about it at the time.

"Surprisingly, in the past month at the hospital, Harry has recovered quickly. His body will take time to recover from the abuse completely, and the doctors have stated that he will never grow fully due to being deprived of food. As for psychologically, he seems to have recovered… he hasn't really opened up to anyone but is no longer terrified of interacting with the hospital staff and myself. He is currently placed at St. Peter's orphanage in Surrey, and according to the matron Harry is doing okay."

"When will I be able to take Harry home?" Lucius interjected, wanting to not waste more time.

"Well, I'll need to do a home inspection and perform multiple checks in during the transition period. So probably within the next two weeks," Two weeks!? That was too much time for someone else find out about Harry and simply steal him. "However, you can visit him today if you like. Probably would be better actually, get him used to you. That would be good, he could check if it was the _Harry Potter_ , then cast a strong compulsion for the muggle to speed up the process and have the boy by the end of the day.

"That sounds great, I do hope the boy takes well to me. Shall we head to the orphanage now?" Lucius stood up, Ms Davis nodded her head. She picked up what Lucius assumed were keys to the vehicles muggles used to get around.

"Ah, we won't be needing those," Lucius sent a petrificus totalus at the social worker, placed her in a chair and made his way back into the main office. He sent a quick obliviate at the receptionist, removing his name from their interactions. Leaving the rest of the memory so that if any wizard capable of legilimens checked, it would just be a forgetful receptionist. Going back into the office, he cast a simple muggle-repelling charm on the door, so no one would find that both inhabitants had left. Lucius grabbed a hold of Ms Davis, cast a concealment charm on both of them and apparated to an alleyway near the orphanage. Turning to the social worker, Lucius quickly obliviated the stunning and journey from her mind and encouraged her mind to create a memory of them both travelling in her vehicle for fifty minutes, and then leaving it a couple of roads away from the orphanage. He removed the concealment charm and cast an ennervate on the women, and stepped out into the pavement.

"Are you alright? You almost collapsed against the side of the building." Lucius faked concern at the social worker, making up a reason as to why the last few minutes would be blurry.

"I, I am fine. Just had a lot of work, and it must of have caught up to me. I am so sorry; I hope this doesn't look I am unable to care for my wards?" Lucius shook his head and then turned to look at the orphanage. It was a quite small building and looked rather neglected. No matter that muggles were a lower species than wizards, he would not wish these living conditions on any child, let alone the wizarding worlds supposed saviour.

"Well here we are, we'll go into the reception and get one of the nuns to bring Harry to the meeting room." They both made their way inside the building and were greeted by an older woman that wore a chain with a rather large cross on her neck. The women, Sister Paula, guided them into a room and told them to wait whilst she gathered the children and promptly left before Lucius could tell her that he already had a child in mind. Lucius turned to Ms Davis,

"Why is she rounding up all the children, I just would like to see Harry?" Ms Davis then made a sheepish face.

"We were hoping to see if you were willing to adopt another child as well. As well, I would like to see if you can identify Harry, one last check you could say." Lucius schooled his expression and sent her a small smile. Well, he was certainly not here to adopt a muggle and he could easily identify a child with a lightning scar. He took a seat and hoped that the children would appear soon.

Harry was cowering in a toilet stall, the boys had found all the food he hadn't eaten and had been storing under his bed. They had called a weirdo and stupid, Billy had even spat at him. So he ran to the toilets and had locked himself inside the stall for a while, he knew he had missed the lunch bell, but he was too scared to leave. What would the Sisters do once they found out? H didn't want to be kicked out!

Despite not being able to eat it, Harry had found comfort in knowing that he could access food anytime he wanted. In the past two weeks that harry had been orphanage the boys his age and slightly older had started to pick on him. They had never hit him, but he had heard them whisper about how quiet he was, and that he was weird. It was nothing as bad as the Dursley's, and Harry didn't want to be taken away so he didn't tell any of the Sisters.

Harry sniffled then heard his age groups' adoption bell ring. The orphanage had four additional bells to the meal bells, each for a different age group, 4-6, 8-10,11-13 and 14-18. The last adoption bells for his age group were rung the most apparent, the last two barely ever. One girl said that in the last adoption bell hadn't been rung in a year.

Not wanting to upset the Sisters he made his way to the greeting room, where all the children his age would gather to greet the potential adopters. Billy shoved him to the end of the line, saying he didn't want his chances of being adopted ruined because he stood near the weird kid. Harry said nothing and stayed at the end of the line, waiting for Sister Paula to lead them into the room. He knew that he would be passed over, he was so scrawny and weird, what adult would want him? Aunt and Uncle had shown him that no one would want him as their child.


End file.
